Rick Stein's paella party food

Paella is one of those festive-looking dishes that is as much a feast for the eyes as it is for the tastebuds.

A base hue of bright yellow with splashes of red and green, it is as synonymous with Spain as tapas and sangria. But does this humble rice dish ever live up to its visual promise?

Road testing Rick Stein's seafood paella.Credit:Sarah McInerney

For some pointers on how to perfect a paella recipe I turned to chef Rick Stein, whose latest cookbook is based on his adventures touring around Spain.

Paella originated in the rice-growing region of Valencia as a dish to feed farm workers. Consequently the rice was bulked up with whatever was at hand, typically rabbit, chicken, snails and beans.

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Chef Rick Stein.

“Once you stand in the rice field you really get it,” Stein says.

“You just throw whatever you have into the pot, frogs in some instances.”

What started in the town of Albufera, cooked outside in a large pan on a fire of orange tree wood, can now be found in restaurants all over the country – with many regions adding their own twist. Seafood, for instance, while not in the original incarnation of paella, is now a popular variation found along the coast.

But whether it’s seafood, rabbit or vegetables you’re after, there are some critical components in the ingredients and the cooking.

Essentially it's is a rice dish so building flavour from a plain base is the challenge. In fact, it’s really the whole point. Starting with a short grain rice like Bomba or Calasparra, Stein uses saffron, the smoked paprika known as pimenton, and a sofrito of garlic, peppers, onion and sometimes tomato to achieve this.

If using tomato, he says the Valencians cut them in half and grate them. The flesh will go through the grater leaving the skin behind to be thrown out.

But even more essential is a good stock, so it’s worth spending the time making your own from scratch.

“The rice is the hero of the dish but also the stock,” he says.

“I remember going to Umbria [in Italy] to a restaurant in a little guest house. I asked what was on the menu and they said risotto because they had a good stock and that really stuck with me.

“I think the problem with risotto is people put too much in it. It’s the same with paella.”

Don’t stirWhen it comes to cooking the dish, the distinctive pan known as a paellera with its two protruding handles provides the right proportions for absorption and evaporation – paella is a dry rice dish. But Stein believes this is more about looks than anything. Any shallow pan of similar dimensions will work just as well.

At the end of cooking, the aim is for the surface to be pitted with holes and the base crusty, cripsy and slightly caramelised.

“They talk about the crust that forms on the base of the pan, the socarrat,” he says.

“That’s the sign of a good paella if you have good socarrat.”

This will add a subtle smoky flavour to the rice.

To achieve both these things, Stein says they key is not to stir.

“It’s the opposite to risotto, which you stir constantly to force the rice flour into the stock so you get a nice creamy finish,” he says.

“With paella you don’t stir it after the initial stirring so the grains swell up.”

The temperature is also important here - his recipes call for a medium to medium-high heat once the ingredients have been brought to the boil. Other recipes advise blasting it with a high heat for a few minutes at the end.

Stein also recommends turning the pan every minute or two to distribute the heat evenly. If you’re using a large paella pan cook it over two burners/elements.

At the end of the cooking time, the heat is turned off and a tea towel placed over the pan so the rice on the top softens.

“Because when you taste a paella through the course of cooking, the rice on the top is always a bit underdone,” he says.

It reheats nicely but Stein says it is best eaten fresh, scraped out of the pan.

Dry the squid well on kitchen paper, season with salt and set to one side. Place a 40–50cm paella pan over 2 burners on a medium heat. Add the oil and garlic and, as soon as the garlic begins tosizzle, add the shallot and fry for 5–6 minutes until soft and sweet, turning the pan every few minutes so that everything cooks evenly.

You will need to do this throughout the cooking time. Add the red and green peppers and pimentón, and fry for 5 minutes until the peppers are just softened. Stir in the squid and stir-fry for 3–4 minutes until it becomes white and opaque.

Scatter the prawns and clams around the pan, add the rice and saffron, and stir everything together well. Add the stock and 2½ teaspoons of salt and bring to the boil, stirring briefly to redistribute the ingredients around the pan.

Leave to simmer vigorously for 6 minutes over a medium-high heat, but do not stir it any more, remembering to give the pan a turn every 2 minutes. Then reduce the heat to medium, arrange the mussels and langoustines or crevettes evenly around the pan and push them down slightly into the rice. Leave to cook for a further 14 minutes, again without stirring, by which time all the liquid will have been absorbed and the surface of the rice should be pitted with small holes.

Turn off the heat, cover the pan with a clean tea towel and leave to rest for 5 minutes before serving. Serve warm straight from the pan – with alioli, if, like me, you love it.

The road test

I road tested two of Stein’s recipes – the Paella de Barrio Pescadores listed above (and pictured at the top of the page) and as a contrast, the similar but spicier Arroz de rape, azafran y pimientos from Valencia (pictured below). It’s a rice dish made with monkfish (John Dory is a good alternative) and peppers which Stein describes as “paella without the attitude”.

Both were easy-to-make and delivered substantial, comforting and flavoursome dishes. Stein’s advice to keep turning the pan every few minutes, avoid stirring and keep the temperature within the hot to moderate range helped ensure a lovely socarrat on both occasions. They are tips I will use again and again.

From a taste perspective the spicier version gets my vote - Plain Eater and I couldn't get enough of it - but I guess it's a matter of personal preference. The seafood paella was lovely but to my taste needed a lift - I was kicking myself for not making the alioli. Next time I'll add tomato to the sofrito (Stein recommends 300g) and do some more work on my stock.

As Stein says, it is the key. And I don't doubt that he is right.

What's your favourite paella recipe? Do you stick to the traditional or have you mastered a seafood version?